A photolithography process of a manufacturing process of a semiconductor device includes various processes such as a resist coating process that forms a resist film on the surface of a substrate such as a wafer, an exposing process that irradiates and exposes a pattern formed on the surface of the substrate, and a developing process that develops the substrate after the exposing process. A coating and developing system for performing the respective processes includes a coating device, an exposing device, and a developing device therein, and further, includes a substrate transporting device that transports the substrate among the respective devices.
In the resist coating process, there is a concern that a resist film coated on a peripheral portion of a substrate becomes thick, and as a result, the uniformity of a film thickness of the substrate surface deteriorates or a redundant resist film of the peripheral portion is peeled to generate particles. Therefore, in order to remove the redundant resist film formed at the peripheral portion of the substrate surface, a peripheral exposing process is performed that exposes the peripheral portion of the substrate after the resist coating process. See, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-14670. Therefore, the coating and developing system includes a peripheral exposing device for performing the peripheral exposing process.
With respect to the substrate after the resist coating process, a substrate inspecting process is performed using a substrate inspecting device to investigate whether a defect such as coating non-uniformity caused by the resist coating process exists on the substrate surface or whether a scratch occurs or a foreign material is attached to the substrate surface. See, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2007-240519. For example, an imaging device such as a charge coupled device (CCD) line sensor picks up an image of the substrate by moving relatively with respect to a placing table on which the substrate is disposed and processes the picked up image to determine whether there are defects, scratches, and the attachment of the foreign material. Therefore, the coating and developing system includes a substrate inspecting device having an imaging device and configured to perform a substrate inspecting process.